• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

6950 fan squeel. safe?

U

UtopiA

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
3,509
I've got an XFX 6950 here to replace into another system.
Doing some quick stability tests in my rig, everything seems fine, but the fan is making some awkward noises.

As the fan speed changes, the fan emits a very high pitched squeel sound, as the fan speed stabilizes to a speed, the squeel gets quieter, but is still audible.

Some speeds are worse than others; if I manually lock to 31% for example, it's painful enough to give you a headache. At 20% (lowest possible speed) it's inaudible.

Now, this card is going into a system and I know the user won't care about noise. At all.
Ignoring the noise itself, I'm wondering if this is a sign of a failing fan? Is it safe to keep using?

Also to be clear, this is not a coil whine.
The noise is exclusively linked to the fan speed, occurring anywhere (not just in 3D apps).
 
Maybe the fan got damaged during transit or something and it's rubbing on the housing?
 
UtopiA said:
I've got an XFX 6950 here to replace into another system.
Doing some quick stability tests in my rig, everything seems fine, but the fan is making some awkward noises.

As the fan speed changes, the fan emits a very high pitched squeel sound, as the fan speed stabilizes to a speed, the squeel gets quieter, but is still audible.

Some speeds are worse than others; if I manually lock to 31% for example, it's painful enough to give you a headache. At 20% (lowest possible speed) it's inaudible.

Now, this card is going into a system and I know the user won't care about noise. At all.
Ignoring the noise itself, I'm wondering if this is a sign of a failing fan? Is it safe to keep using?

Also to be clear, this is not a coil whine.
The noise is exclusively linked to the fan speed, occurring anywhere (not just in 3D apps).
Click to expand...

Sounds (no pun intended) like you've just hit a bad streak of luck lately.. :(

Hope things work out.
 
notarat said:
Sounds (no pun intended) like you've just hit a bad streak of luck lately.. :(
Click to expand...
Yup.
Makes me never want to buy a video card again. The 5870 I have here is flawless, so I fully intend on using it at this point, despire the fact that the 570 and 6950 are both faster.

Maybe the fan got damaged during transit or something and it's rubbing on the housing?
Click to expand...
I tried removing the heatsink, but the screws are giving me trouble, as stupid as that sounds.
I tried rotating the fan with my finger and didn't notice any scraping sounds.

I may just put the card in the system and use it until there's an issue. If something comes up, then I'll RMA it.

I know ATI reference fans make noises when they're failing, but I'm not sure if it's the same as I'm hearing. For all I know this is how the card is supposed to sound. I don't really have anything to compare it to.
 
Well, I just got my HIS 6950 and there i no whine no matter what I turn the fan speed up to. So guess there must be something faulty with your one. Sorry man :-(
 
Conclusion bump, I had some spare time today so I played around with the card, and it turns out it does seem to be a coil whine. I found a fan speed that didn't create the noise (at desktop), locked the fan to that speed, and turned on FurMark. Even though the fan doesn't move, the whining sound kicks in.

Strange how it varies with fan control as well as 3D mode.
Anyway now I feel safer about using it. ;)

Just posting incase anyone was curious.
 
Thanks, I was interested to hear how you got on with it. It always bugs me when people don't come back to say what worked!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top